By Dr.

Saad Rehman
Research is what I'm doing when I
don't know what I'm doing.
Research and experimental development is
formal work which is undertaken
systematically to increase the stock of
knowledge, including knowledge of
humanity, culture and society, and the use of
this stock of knowledge to devise new
applications
Research is a process of investigation. An
examination of a subject from different points of
view. Its not just a trip to the library to pick up a
stack of materials, or picking the first five hits
from a computer search. Research is a hunt for
the truth. It is getting to know a subject by
reading up on it, reflecting, playing with the
ideas, choosing the areas that interest you and
following up on them. Research is the way you
educate yourself.
 Scientific Research

Research in Humanities

Artistic Research
 Identification of research problem
Literature review
Specifying the purpose of research
Determine specific research questions or
hypotheses
Data collection
Analyzing and interpreting the data
Reporting and evaluating research
 Qualitative research

Quantitative research
Qualitative researchers are primarily
concerned with practice and process rather
than outcomes. That is, they focus on the
process that is occurring instead of the
outcome of that process. The focus is on
participants' perceptions and experiences and
the way they make sense of their lives.
Qualitative research, also called field
research, typically involves fieldwork in which
the researcher observes and records behavior
and events in their natural setting. The
researcher physically goes to the people,
setting, or site in order to observe the subject
as it normally and naturally occurs or
behaves.
Quantitative research generates numerical
data or data that can be converted into numbers
for a statistical review. A typical example would
be a restaurant survey card that asks from 1 to
5, with one being very dissatisfied and 5 being
very satisfied, how would you describe your
dining experience today? Ideally, quantitative
research looks to obtain a statistically reliable
sampling of respondents.
 Quantitative research is generally done using
scientific methods, which includes the following
steps:

Developing models, theories, and hypotheses of what

the researcher expects to find.
Developing instruments and methods for measuring
the data.
Experimental control and manipulation of variables.
Collecting the data.
Modeling and analyzing the data.
Evaluating the results.
 Gather all important data, analyses, plots and
tables

Organize results so that they follow a logical

sequence

Consolidate data plots and create figures for

the manuscript
 Identify two or three important findings
emerging from the experiments. Make them
the central theme of the article.

Note the readership of the journal that you

are considering to publish your work.

Prepare figures, schemes and tables in a

professional manner
 Title
Abstract
Introduction
Experimental Section
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
Supporting Information
 As you craft a name for your paper, you
should consider these potential objectives for
the title you choose. A title should:

Describe the content of the paper

Distinguish the paper from others on a similar
topic
Catch the readers attention and interest
Match search queries so people will find your
paper (and cite it)
Example: Suppose youre a robotics researcher,
and youve discovered that probabilistic path
finding is far superior to earlier methods that
depended on deterministic methods. You
might choose a title like

Probabilistic Pathfinding: Beyond Deterministic

Methods for Navigation in RoughTerrain
Its also useful to create a title that sticks with
people. You might consider a few devices to
help you there. How about a snappy name or
acronym for your approach?

GRAMMPS: A generalized mission planner for

multiple mobile robots in unstructured
environments
 An abstract, or summary, is published together with a research article,
giving the reader a "preview" of what's to come. Such abstracts may
also be published separately in bibliographical sources, such as Biologic
al Abstracts. They allow other scientists to quickly scan the large
scientific literature, and decide which articles they want to read in
depth. The abstract should be a little less technical than the article
itself; you don't want to dissuade your potential audience from reading
your paper.

Your abstract should be one paragraph, of 100-250 words, which

summarizes the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the
paper.
 It is not easy to include all this information in
just a few words. Start by writing a summary
that includes whatever you think is
important, and then gradually prune it down
to size by removing unnecessary words, while
still retaining the necessary concepts.

Don't use abbreviations or citations in the

abstract. It should be able to stand alone
without any footnotes.
What question did you ask in your
experiment? Why is it interesting? The
introduction summarizes the relevant
literature so that the reader will understand
why you were interested in the question you
asked. One to four paragraphs should be
enough. End with a sentence explaining the
specific question you asked in this
experiment.
 How did you answer this question? There
should be enough information here to allow
another scientist to repeat your experiment.
Look at other papers that have been
published in your field to get some idea of
what is included in this section.

If you had a complicated protocol, it may

helpful to include a diagram, table or
flowchart to explain the methods you used.
 Do not put results in this section. You may, however,
include preliminary results that were used to design
the main experiment that you are reporting on. ("In a
preliminary study, I observed the owls for one week,
and found that 73 % of their locomotor activity
occurred during the night, and so I conducted all
subsequent experiments between 11 pm and 6 am.")

Mention relevant ethical considerations. If you used

human subjects, did they consent to participate. If you
used animals, what measures did you take to
minimize pain?
 This is where you present the results you've
gotten. Use graphs and tables if appropriate, but
also summarize your main findings in the text.
Do NOT discuss the results or speculate as to
why something happened; t hat goes in the
Discussion.
You don't necessarily have to include all the data
you've gotten during the semester. This isn't a
diary.
Use appropriate methods of showing data. Don't
try to manipulate the data to make it look like
you did more than you actually did.
Highlight the most significant results, but don't
just repeat what you've written in the Results
section. How do these results relate to the
original question? Do the data support your
hypothesis? Are your results consistent with
what other investigators have reported? If your
results were unexpected, try to explain why. Is
there another way to interpret your results?
What further research would be necessary to
answer the questions raised by your results?
How do your results fit into the big picture?
 Your conclusion is your chance to have the last word on
the subject. The conclusion allows you to have the final say
on the issues you have raised in your paper, to summarize
your thoughts, to demonstrate the importance of your
ideas, and to propel your reader to a new view of the
subject. It is also your opportunity to make a good final
impression and to end on a positive note.
Your conclusion can go beyond the confines of the
assignment. The conclusion pushes beyond the
boundaries of the prompt and allows you to consider
broader issues, make new connections, and elaborate on
the significance of your findings.
Your conclusion should make your readers
glad they read your paper. Your conclusion
gives your reader something to take away
that will help them see things differently or
appreciate your topic in personally relevant
ways. It can suggest broader implications
that will not only interest your reader, but
also enrich your readers life in some way. It is
your gift to the reader.
It is important to properly and appropriately cite
references in scientific research papers in order to
acknowledge your sources and give credit where credit is
due. Science moves forward only by building upon the
work of others. There are, however, other reasons for
citing references in scientific research papers. Citations to
appropriate sources show that you've done your
homework and are aware of the background and context
into which your work fits, and they help lend validity to
your arguments. Reference citations also provide avenues
for interested readers to follow up on aspects of your work
-- they help weave the web of science. You may wish to
include citations for sources that add relevant information
to your own work, or that present alternate views.
Plagiarism is the act of taking another person's
writing, conversation, song, or even idea and passing
it off as your own. This includes information from web
pages, books, songs, television shows, email
messages, interviews, articles, artworks or any other
medium. Whenever you paraphrase, summarize, or
take words, phrases, or sentences from another
person's work, it is necessary to indicate the source of
the information within your paper using an internal
citation. It is not enough to just list the source in a
bibliography at the end of your paper. Failing to
properly quote, cite or acknowledge someone else's
words or ideas with an internal citation is plagiarism.
Self-plagiarism (also known as "recycling
fraud) is the reuse of significant, identical, or
nearly identical portions of one's own work
without acknowledging that one is doing so
or without citing the original work. Articles of
this nature are often referred to as duplicate
or multiple publication. In addition to the
ethical issue, this can be illegal if copyright of
the prior work has been transferred to
another entity.
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence but
more often than not it results from
misunderstanding rather than a deliberate
intention to cheat. Many students simply do not
understand what plagiarism is. Although
confusion is understandable, especially at the
beginning of your study, ignorance will not be
accepted as an excuse or as a defence against an
accusation of plagiarism. You must therefore
make sure that you understand what plagiarism
is and how you can avoid it.
You may be found guilty of plagiarism if:
You are presenting or passing off another person's
work as your own
You import into your own work 'more than a single
phrase from another person's work without the use of
quotation marks and identification of the source'
You make 'extensive use of another person's work,
either by summarizing or paraphrasing it merely by
changing a few words or altering the order of the
presentation, without acknowledgement'
 You use 'the ideas of another person without
acknowledgement of the source' or submit or present
work as your own 'which is substantially the ideas or
intellectual data of another
You submit the same piece of work for two different
assignments, even if they are to different departments
You make 'a deliberate attempt at passing off the ideas or
writings of another person as your own'
You take 'the words, ideas and labour of other people and
give the impression that they are your own. Plagiarism is
simply theft'
 Intra-corpal plagiarism - e.g. copying from
another student on your course
Extra-corpal plagiarism - e.g. copying from an
external source such as a book or journal
Collusion - working together for mutual
benefit but with the intention of deceiving a
third party
Autoplagiarism - citing your own work
without acknowledging it
 It's cheating

Plagiarism penalizes honest students

It degrades academic standards, degrees and

institutions

There may be a negative impact on

professional standards if students are not
learning the required topics properly